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WEEKLY BULLETIN FROM ROY

21

FIXTURES

  • Saturday 16 March – Away to King’s Lynn in League – kick off 3pm. Coach leaves at 10:30am.
  • Wednesday 20 March – Home to Coalville in League – kick off 7:45pm.

PLAYER NEWS

  • Michael Johnson is suspended for the King’s Lynn game – a replacement will be announcement this afternoon.
  • Harry Draper should return to the squad for the King’s Lynn game after his recent tonsillitis.
  • Jay Dowie will be assessed ahead of the King’s Lynn game.
  • Alex Anderson and Matt Nolan continue to work on their return to full fitness.

IMPROVEMENTS UPDATE
The work on the roof has continued this week and is nearing completion. Improvements to the toilets will not start until the roof work is complete. The work to extend the dressing rooms to comply with the new FA regulations will be completed early next week. As ever we will be totally open as regards to the total costs when final invoices are received.

WOMEN AT THE GAME – BY KATE DELLER
I want to say a massive thank you to everyone who attended the Women at the Game match on 2 March against Rushall Olympic. The cakes and fund raising were a huge success, the game not so! Thank you to everyone who brought a donation for the free cake stand; everyone enjoyed the cakes. Also to everyone who helped out on the day. So trying to recall everyone, Bakers, “Neil Jenson, Bill Rogers, Gracie Deller, Nicola Belcher from Rushall Olympic, Sue Clark, Elaine Craddock, David Tudball and Cake Junkie Jayde” Helpers Sue Clark and Janette Rogers handing out cakes. Huge thank you to Tom Bellis of the Radcliffe Arms, not only did he donate 2 vouchers for the raffle he also stood and made balloon animals to raise funds for Humanitas. Thank you Steve Wick for donating the other raffle prizes and the wonderful donation to Humanitas. Because of everyone’s generosity Humanitas managed to raise a brilliant £366.20, well done!

23RD MARCH 2019 – FUNDRAISING FOR SERAPH THOMAS – COMEDY OF MAGIC EVENT – BY KATE DELLER
There is an entertainment evening planned for 7.30pm at the Canary Club to raise fund for Seraph Thomas which has been broadly advertised, tickets are available and I would urge you all to help support this. It has been amazing to see how the whole community of Hitchin has got behind all of the events in the town to raise money for this very poorly Hitchin lad. Help us to raise as much money as possible and purchase a ticket by clicking here or see Rose or Steve in the Canary Club to buy tickets from them.

HITCHIN TOWN UNDER 19’S
The academy team were beaten 2-1 by Kings Langley at the Arena on Wednesday. They have no game next week.

EJA TEAM NEWS – BY NICK CARR
All four of our EJA teams were in action again last weekend with mixed results.

  • The U13s were involved in an 11-goal thriller coming out the victors in a 6-5 win over AFC Dunstable, goal scorers were Sol Campbell, Harry Gatt and Lucas with one each, and Alfie Harrison with a hat trick.
  • The U14s went down 2-1 at home to St. Albans City despite taking the lead early in the game through Brandon Owen and creating several chances to extend their lead.
  • The U16s also lost out by the odd goal when losing to Cheshunt by a 3-2 score line.
  • The pick of the results though was the U18s who won through to the semi final of the Hertfordshire County Cup with a resounding 4-1 win against Cheshunt FC with Liam Campion, Shaun Dowler, Josh Adams and Shay Khan sharing the goals.
  • This week all four teams are in action once again. The U18s and U13s both have home games against Biggleswade Town and both are at the Arena Baldock. The U18s kickoff at 12:30pm and are followed by the U13s who kickoff at 3pm.
  • The U14s are at home to Braintree Town, kick off 11am at North Herts College, Hitchin whilst the U16s travel to Potters Bar Town for a 10:30am kickoff.

HITCHIN TOWN LADIES REPORT – BY CALLUM ELLIS

Watton Ladies FC v Hitchin Town Ladies FC

Sunday 10th March 2019 saw our return to Division Two action against Watton Ladies. Hitchin got the game underway and started to play out from the defence.

GOAL HITCHIN, Huffer played the ball across to Wilfort who spread the ball to Chaffey who in turn flicked it through to Gash. Her first touch saw the ball go past the rooted Watton goal keeper. Then a free kick was awarded to Hitchin after Gash was fouled. Huffer sent the ball into the box and it was cleared to Winter who sent the ball in but again it was cleared.

GOAL HITCHIN, Cain-Murnane received the ball and lifted her head and from 25 yards out saw the opportunity to shoot and found the back of the net after the ball bounced in front of the Watton keeper. The sun had risen and the wind had started to blow across the pitch making it very difficult to play. Hitchin had started positively moving the ball across the pitch. A chance fell to Chaffey when Day played her through but her shot was straight at the keeper. An injury to Day forced her off the field and Evans came on.

Hitchin were on the attack again and pushed Watton all the way. Two chances fell to Chaffey and Gash but both shots were put wide. The wind was causing all kinds of issues for the Hitchin front two. After a bit of confusion in the Hitchin defence a Watton striker was put through on goal and toe poked it into the net. However the flag was up prior to the ball being rolled in the back of the net. The wind had started to pick up and caused both teams many issues. Hitchin were on the attack again and Cain-Murnane took a free kick from which Chaffey tried to lob the keeper but she was able to collect the ball .
Half time.

Wilfort made way for Franklin and Wyatt came on for Watson at the start of the second half. Within three minutes Huffer was forced to come off after falling down a divert in the pitch and rolling her ankle and on came Watson. Hitchin pressed high up the pitch and were pressing for a third. The wind had other ideas and made it difficult for Hitchin to grab another goal. A Hitchin corner was won but it was an uphill battle. Chaffey sent the ball into the box only for the wind to blow it back while Chaffey sen the ball into the box but Hitchin could not get the third goal. A 50/50 challenge saw Gash leave the field early and Simon came on.

Both teams battled for the ball as the wind got stronger and were struggling to control the ball. GOAL HITCHIN, Wyatt darted down the left and cut in and got her shot away and into the back of the net. This was her third appearance in a green shirt and she grabbed her first goal for the club. GOAL HITCHIN, A scrappy clearance fell to Evans on the edge of the box who fired into the bottom corner and then the referee blew for full time.

It was a difficult game because of the elements but Hitchin remained a well disciplined team. A clean sheet and three points continued a fantastic season. We are at Offley Recreation Centre on Sunday 17th March 2019 against Evergreen Ladies, 14:00 kick off.

MANAGER’S NOTES – BY ADAM PARKER AND MARK BURKE

HALESOWEN TOWN (Adam)
I felt we should have won with the number of chances we created. Michael Johnson only had two saves to make in the game and defensively we were very tight. We had seven shots on target and eight shots off target which showed our dominance. I felt Michal Cain and Isaac Galliford linked together very well.

We put in some good crosses but failed to get on the end of them. I would have taken a point and a clean sheet before the game but left feeling disappointed that we had failed to win.

KING’S LYNN AND COALVILLE (Mark)
King’s Lynn lie third in the table and are having a good season. They have only lost two home games this season in the league so we are in for a challenging game. They will also be seeking revenge after our 3-0 win in the home match at Top Field.

I am really pleased we have tightened up at the back with five clean sheets in our last six games and let us hope we can extend this record on Saturday.

Coalville gave one of the best performances against us this season in the away game and ran out 4-1 winners. With games in hand they are in a great position to make the play-off positions. We will be looking for revenge and want to push towards mid table over the remaining games.

Ahead of our next game against King’s Lynn Town, Betvictor Football have given us odds of 21/4 to win. Click here to sign up.
Please note, club players and staff cannot bet on football matches.

BY ROY IZZARD